Shotlist

This Charming Couple, one of a series of five films on courtship and marriage designed to be used with Henry Bowman's textbook Marriage for Moderns, was part of the massive postwar response to family disintegration and problems.
Most educational films hover safely within the realm of conventional wisdom. They feature characters who are not too attractive, not too smart, and not too unusual-the better for ordinary students to identify with. Not This Charming Couple. Like the other Marriage for Moderns films, and quite unlike most social guidance movies, the film is about the lives-and problems-of educated people and intellectuals. Ken and Winnie float through the Missouri summer countryside in a haze of poetic infatuation. Ken worries that "the words don't come" when he tries to get Winnie's essence down on paper; Winnie criticizes Ken for not understanding "how exciting the life of a writer can be." Ken takes Winnie to dinner with his friends from New York and they quarrel when Winnie does not quite make the grade with the effete intellectuals. The film is considerably more literate than others of its type, incorporating prose, poetry, and ballads into its soundtrack. The dialogue is witty and odd enough to be quoted: "Blue eyes mean love me or I die. Brown eyes mean love me or I kill you." As Willard van Dyke's essay "The Director on Location," included on this disc, reveals, the attitude and production environment were unusual, even utopian. The filmmakers, themselves experienced documentarians, chose to work with nonprofessional actors. They interviewed hundreds of people in and around Columbia, Missouri, and cast actors whose personality and psychological traits were close to the roles in the script. Since the actors were to play speaking parts, van Dyke brought cast and crew together into a guest house and showed them documentary films, attempting to encourage the actors to experience their roles emotionally. "As much of a documentary film director's work is done while he is relaxing," van Dyke writes, "as when he is under the pressure of the actual filming; it is during his free time that he gets to know the people with whom he is working. When he knows them well he can help them to find the things within themselves which can be used to create the feeling of truth so essential to the film." The film begins in divorce court, so there is no suspense about the outcome. Eyes on the course rather than on the finish, we see vignettes showing the weaknesses of Ken and Winnie's partnership. In a manner unusual for an educational film, the vignettes do not appear to have been created to prove specific points. Rather, each makes an impression that, taken with the other segments of the film, creates a feeling of unease. The attempt, it seems, is to make a narrative as full of ambiguity as a real-life discussion of good friends. Although the failure of the marriage is predetermined and essentially forced on the viewer, the film imparts its ideas in a noncoercive way; they seem to arise out of the events. There are power struggles in This Charming Couple, but the warfare is unconventional by most standards. Neither Ken nor Winnie wants to change his or her behavior, and both are wedded to their Bohemian ideals. When the question of marital compromises is broached, both seem to feel threatened on the gender level. Shades of social class and mobility also seem to color the relationship; Winnie imagines the enviable life of a writer's spouse, while Ken, a Louisiana boy, seeks to emulate his intellectual friends from New York. Winnie, queen of her own small world, seeks to control Ken within marriage, because she cannot control his success in the bigger world. The core dilemma of their marriage anticipates the late-century urban plight in which so many couples find themselves today: "They would rather change each other to satisfy their own ambitions."




DIVORCE MARRIAGE COURTSHIP DATING ROMANTIC LOVE
Narrator:
In one year, in the United States, there are about half a million divorces. Because about a million men and women, who looked for life-long happiness with each other, admit that they had not found it. It means that many thousands of children who need the security of a home and parents, lose it. It means that for every four couples who get married one is divorced. It means that with every passing year more American marriages face the probability of failure. Perhaps it means that the basic reasons for these divorces preceeded the marriages. Why did this charming couple wind up in court? Why did it have to happen this way for them? Who's fault was it. What was wrong. Was it bad luck? Was it [ ] 'Cause before they became bride and groom, these two were in love.

Winnie:
"Did you ever see such a day, Ken? Grandma used to say it's so healthy around here they had to shoot a man to start a graveyard. They say Johnny Appleseed went by this way."

Ken:
"Winnie, you've opened up a whole new world for me."

Winnie:
"Oh, Ken, the ring! You squeezed so hard. Isn't it rich looking and unusual."

Ken:
"And inexpensive, too."

Winnie:
"Ken, I can hardly wait until September to get away. It'll be such fun to be together all the time and we'll be so close to everything in New YorkÑart shows and foreign films and, well, I'll even see the ocean for the first time. Ken, do you leave your razor blades lying around?"

Ken:
"Don't be a philistine Winnie."

" Winnie:
Well, it's a lucky thing Fran found us a two-and-a-half off-campus, but what'll we put in it?"

Ken:
"Well, that little Picasso sketch I picked up goes in the living room. It's a masterpiece."

Winnie:
"And the Bendix?"

Ken:
"You take care of the homemaking. I'll look after the books and records."

Winnie:
"No male supremacy now professor. It doesn't go with your salary. Ken, do you like babies?"

Ken:
"Sure."

Winnie:
"Your own?"

Ken:
"Well, I hadn't thought of it."

Winnie:
"Are you insured Ken?"

Ken:
"No, why?"

Winnie:
"Well, we know so awful little about one another, don't we."

Ken:
"Wouldn't it be nice if we could just wander up a road like this with never a care."

Winnie:
"Oh, yes, darling. But some day we've got to stop and think things out."

Ken:
"Sure, but I'm awfully hungry right now."

Winnie:
"Well c'mon."

Ken:
"A man chases a woman until she catches him."

Winnie:
"Oh, Ken, isn't this heaven. Ken let's not think too far ahead yet. Let's just fill every second with minutes. Nothing's changed, has it Ken?"

Ken:
"Of course not, angel."

Winnie:
"I'm still a mystery to you."

Ken:
"As mysterious as life itself."

Winnie:
"I want it to stay this way forever and ever."

Ken:
"The earth and the grass, sole grand international confabulation with the sun.While man, the stumbler and finder goes on."

Winnie:
"Why, Ken, that's beautiful. You're a great writer."

Ken:
"A teacher of great writing, Winnie. That was your most famous poet."

Winnie:
"Sandburg, I know, but Ken you're going to be greater than he. You're going to be one of the most famous novelists in America."

Ken:
"If I ever get the novel written."

Winnie:
"What do you mean 'if?' Of course you will."

Ken:
"That depends on how easy you are to catch with a typewriter."

Winnie:
"I never run away from you, not really."

Ken:
"Sometimes you do. I think I've caught the way you talk or feel but when I try to put the words on paper they don't ring true. I realize that I don't know you well enough to recreate you."

Winnie:
"You will, Ken. I have all the faith in the world in you."

Ken:
"Winnie, do you always have to pick things?"

Winnie:
"Why not? You see a flower and you think of Sandburg or Whitman. I see a flower and I want to wear it in my hair or put it in a vase."

Ken:
"Nature was kind to your face, Winnie."

Winnie:
"Oh I like compliments."

Ken:
"I wish you'd take off that powder though."

Winnie:
"And show my freckles?"

Ken:
"They're yours, aren't they?"

Winnie:
"Don't the girls in New Orleans have freckles?"

Ken:
"No, they stay out of the sun."

Winnie:
"Well, I didn't. I used to tumble around and climb fences and ... You want to see the scars on my knees?"

Ken:
"You're such a faker."

Winnie:
"Same as you. Ken, am I fun to be with. Oh Ken, I like your laugh. You laugh with your eyes."

Ken:
"You know, when you're a hundred I'll be a hundred and five."

Winnie:
"I want to die before you do, Ken."

Ken:
"Blue eyes say 'love me or I'll die'. Brown eyes say 'love me or I kill you.'"

Winnie:
"Oh Mr. Instructor, if your students could only see you now."

May:
"Hi. Did you have a good time."

Winnie:
"Wonderful. I've gotta change."

May (Voiceover):
At first I thought it was only a summer romance. Ken would soon be going back to his regular teaching job in the East. But I was wrong. I like Ken alright but I feel more comfortable with Joe. We know the same steps, like the same books. She could have got engaged to so many nice boys in town. They used to shower her with attention, put her on a pedestal. I guess they were too easy to get. Sometimes I think she just wants to get away from home. But, that's Winnie. Always reaching for something beyond her reach. She has to know as much or more than anybody else. No wonder they gave her a job in the dean's office when she graduated. She was a star in her own little world. She could breathe life into the dullest routine. She made things go the way she wanted them to. The girls loved her. She was so charming and helpful. I was sure she wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. She seemed to be made for a career."

Winnie:
"Be a darling, May, and help me with my zipper."

May:
"Don't jump around so."

Winnie:
"Oh, I look a mess."

May:
"You never looked better."

Winnie:
"Am I too showy? Some of Ken's friends are coming in from the East today. I want him to be proud of me. There they are. Bye May."

May:
"Bye, have a good time."

Peter:
"And the honeymoon's all set? I still can't believe it, Ken."

Fran:
"You were so delightfully unattached."

Peter:
"Don't worry Winnie. You're the most charming of them all."

Fran:
"Ken, I know where I can get you some lovely odd chairs. Very functional."

Ken:
"Oh."

Winnie:
"But I thought we were going to have early American, darling."

Ken:
"You can trust Fran, Winnie. Her taste is faultless."

Winnie:
"Why we don't go watch the moon, Peter, while they plan a home for me."

Peter:
"Oh, I wouldn't dare, Winnie. I might lose my head."

Winnie:
"Why don't you tell Fran about your novel, Ken."

Fran:
"Is it a secret?"

Winnie:
"Yes, our secret."

Peter:
"Why, Ken, I didn't know you had it in you."

Winnie:
"You just haven't appreciated him. It won't be long before the whole world knows the real Ken."

Fran:
"Do tell me about it."

Ken:
"I'd rather not. It's a little earlyÑor late, rather. Shall we go."

Winnie:
"Don't you think we make a charming couple?"


Winnie:
"Did I make an impression, Ken?"

Ken:
"You did all right."

Winnie:
"I wanted so much to do the right thing..."

Ken:
"I know."

Winnie:
"But I felt so, so left out."

Ken:
"That can happen to anybody."

Winnie:
"Ken, are they all like Fran?"

Ken:
"Intellectuals, you mean?"

Winnie:
"No, snobs!"

Ken:
"You're imagining that, Winnie. You'll get used to them. It'll take time."

Winnie:
"To get elevated to her level, is that what you mean? Ken, how can you sit there and be so superior. Don't I count?"

Ken:
"Of course, you do, Winnie. But you can't expect me to give up Fran and Pete. They're my kind of people. I'd hoped that we'll be like them."

Winnie:
"Well, I don't want to be her."

Ken:
"Well, what's the matter with Fran and Pete?"

Winnie:
"Ken, I think you'd better take me home."

Ken:
"If that's what you want. Sure! Why not! Look, darling, hasn't this gone a little too far?"

Winnie:
"It certainly has."

Ken:
"But you can't expect me to be any different from what I am."

Winnie:
"Don't you expect to change, even a little? After all, I'm giving up everything in the world for you."

Ken:
"But what if I don't write that novel?"

Winnie:
"Ken, you don't seem to realize yourself how good you are. No wonder..."

Ken:
"But I've never had anything published. You're being unfair."

Winnie:
"Why? Because I want you to be famous? Ken, you don't realize how exciting a writer's life can be. There's no greater thrill in the world."

Ken:
"Can't you be just a college professor's wife? Isn't that enough?"

Winnie:
"And play ghost to your Hamlet. Oh no. I'm not going to sit at home with the four walls and count pennies, or alter myself to suit your friends' taste."

Ken:
"Winnie, I love you."

Winnie:
"And I love you, Ken, but I'm not going to let you change me."

Ken:
"You're not going to change me either. I've got to feel free to be myself. Even after we're married."

Winnie:
"Well that goes for me, too."

Student (Voiceover):
He was in one of the moods again and late as usual. But he was very popular and nobody minded, of course. He liked to hold his class outdoors when the weather was nice. He called it 'Folk Origins of American Poetry' but Lit 131 was more than that really. Much more. He had read a lot and traveled widely and was a brilliant lecturer. But he was too easy-going. There was no discipline at all. He was so informal and so impersonal I didn't think he could belong to anyone. He used to invite me up to his room once in a while. I could never figure out his game. He enjoyed things much more than he enjoyed making something of himself. He liked to talk about the folklore of the country people, the ballad-singers and the musical instruments. He took pleasure in new values and ideas and, especially, he liked the feeling of a university wall around him. He never was called on to make any practical decisions. He could go on thinking and dreaming and doing as he pleased. He left early one morning. Later I heard he went on a field trip with Professor Gates. He was gone for days. He made sure it was way out where no one at all could reach him. "His words were few but his look. They would linger forever more. The smile in his sad dark eyes. More tender than words could be. But I was nothing to him. Though he was the world to me. Today and there in his garden stroll, all robed in her satins and lace. Lady Mary's so strange and cold, who held in his heart no place..."

Winnie:
"I couldn't stand it any longer, Ken."

Ken:
"Who told you that I was here?"

Winnie:
"I had to come back to you, Ken or I wouldn't have known a moment's peace all my life."

Ken:
"But this is a hundred moments from nowhere."

Winnie:
"I kept thinking about you all the time. I couldn't sleep."

Ken:
"It wasn't easy for me, either."

Winnie:
"Ken, we've got have a chance to be happy. Let's not throw it away."

Ken:
"Are you sure?"

Winnie:
"I don't want to be sure of anything except that you love me."

Ken:
"But I was nothing to him though he was the world to me. Today in his palace grand all his flowers ..."

Winnie:
"Ken, put your arms around me. Oh, Ken, I want so to feel, oh, I don't know, together again. The way we were."

Ken:
"You're so lovely, Winnie."

Winnie:
"For every woman in this world, Ken, there's only one man."

Ken:
"So enchanting."

Winnie:
"When you marry for love, Ken, you're always happy."

Ken:
"So seductive."

Winnie:
"Are you going to be nice again, Ken."

Ken:
"You'll see."

Winnie:
"And you'll be an angel about everything?"

Ken:
"Always."

Winnie:
"And we'll never disagree about anything at all."

Ken:
"Never."

Winnie:
"And you won't forget my birthday."

Ken:
"June 26th."

Winnie:
"And promise you won't take me for granted."

Ken:
"I promise."

Winnie:
"And you'll never get fat and bald."

Ken:
"Never."

Winnie:
"And we'll always be in love, even when we're old."

Ken:
"Always. Kiss."

Winnie:
"To what, Ken? What to?"

Ken:
"You say."

Winnie:
"To love."

Narrator:
Good-looking, healthy, clever. A beautiful bride. She thinks she's in love with Ken. Intelligent, gifted. Certainly old enough to get married, to know his own mind. He thinks he's in love with Winnie. He likes her vivaciousness. But he doesn't realize it can't be bottled up and controlled. She likes his air of distinction but she wants him to accept her taste. He likes her simplicity but he wants her to be sophisticated and understand his complexities at the same time. She like his romantic moodiness but she wants him to be a steady provider, too. He likes her maternal qualities but is not prepared to give up his freedom to really enjoy them. He likes her efficient practicallity but he doesn't want to have his wings clipped so he's down-to-earth along with her. She likes the idea of going to live with him in a new community but she wants the people there to be like her own neighbors. She likes almost everything she knows about him but lots of what she knows is in her own imagination. He's willling to promise the world but he is probably unable to give even himself. What a lovely picture this bride and groom make. They might have found each other. But, instead, they have remained strangers. Each is a dream in the other's mind. They don't want to accept each other as they really are. They would rather change each other to satisfy their own ambitions. That's why they are doomed to fail.
[The End. A McGraw-Hill Text-Film.]
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